THE TERRIBLE EXPLOSION AT THE FERNDALE COLLIERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1308, 25 January 1868, Page 5

THE TERRIBLE EXPLOSION AT THE FERNDALE COLLIERY.

Akothbe of those dreadful cati strophe?, says tho Times of November 12, which of late have appeared to succeed each other -with unacoustomod rapidity is now reported from South Wales. An explosion in a coal-mine has suddenly sent we cannot say how many souls into eternity. 4 b generally, and indeed necessarily, happens on thrse shocking occasions, the cxtenof tho fatality cannot at once be ascer'ainod. It is never known exactly how many men may be in tho pit ; and even if the nnmbors in tho pit could be certified, there is always a chance, though unhappily a slender one, that some of them may be released alive. All wa can say in the present case is, that perhaps even the frighful hurricano in the West Indies has not been more deadly in its effects.

The IVindalo Colliery—the scene oi this appalling calamity—is situated in the lihondda Valley in tho heart of the mining districts of Glamorganshire, but it is not very accessible, being some five or six miles from a railway station, and is an extremely rugged country. iho mino itself is comparatively a new one, having been only reccntiy opened ; but tho works liavo been pushed on with great rapidity, unt 1 they have approached tho famous -.lerthyr seam of coal. A« usual, a kind of village or huinlet has sprung into oxistence near the mine, and there a population of some 500 souls 5b lodged in houses rudely built of wood, like American loghuts. The men engaged in thymines are said to have been about 800 in number, divided into two "shifts," or reliefs, one working by night and tho other l>y day. On the basis of calculation there would have been about 150 hands in tho pit at tho moment of the explosion. . . We are informed too, that there was an underground stable attached to the colliery, and that thirty-five horses were employed in the work of tho mine. Such wa;i the Ferndale establishment at noonjon Friday last.

Tn tho afternoon of that day, at about half-past 5, an explosion of tcrrific force shook the while mine, we may say, together. A volume of ilame rushed up the ehaft with a cloud of ashes and stones, as in tho eruption of a volcano. There was no need to tell the inhabitants of the valley the import of the sound They rushed to tho pit's mouth, with a forecast of the truth only too certain, and in an incredibly bhort time workmen arrived from all parts of iho district to tho succour or roscue of their brethren. It was too late; or nther, there had never been a movement ut which human help could have been of any avail. The violence of the concussion bad so shaken the ground that the earth fell in along tho galleries and passages of tho mine and precluded escape. It was like an explosion in a tunnel, not only filling the place with a poisonous atmosphere, but bringing the roof in too. In such a case the first demand is for a guide well acquninted with the pit. Every mino has its ways, and its turns, and it workings, like an underground city, and the great object is to learn the plan. At Ferndale, the manager of the colliery, who was, above all others, competent to give this information, was known to have been in tho pit at the time of the explosion, and search was immediately made for him, in order that his directions might he obtained for the rescue of the others ; but though he was soon found, he was quite de.id. So the exploring parties had to work by instinct} with what hints they could get, but evefy step taken of their progress showed the hopeless character of the calamity. The unfortunate victims were reached n batches of ten or twelve together, after distressing intervals of suspense. The working parties came upon a fall ot earth blocking the way out, which they toiled ot painfully with pick and shovel till tho obetaclo was removed. Behind it lay a group of corpses charred and suffocated; and then alittlefuither on wiis another " fall," to be attacked in a like manner and with alike discovery. On Saturday, iigentlcrr.au who had formerly been manager of the Ferndale pit, arrived on tho snot, and other managers, together with tho Queen's Inspector of Mines, soon followed, but thero was little to be done. Not only the miners, but the very mine itself app?ar3 to have been destroyed. 'J ho explosion, besides its ordinary effects, acted like an earthquake to ; and tho unhappy victims who were neither burned by tho firedamp nor suffocated by mephitic air must have been biried alive.